I get a brand new brew crew

A new Beer Store, a new set of thugs to work with, except I've worked
with these three before. They would be Trishan, Josh and Jonny, all of
whom will be getting forced by me into the sweet world of craft beer.

A few weeks prior to Christmas, I got the word from our District Manager that I would be shifting out of my Beer Store in southwest Oakville into another in Northeast Oakville.

This, in itself, is not big news. In the eight years I've been full-time, this would be my sixth shift. Moving us around keeps the job fresh. Despite the fact it's the exact same business, every Beer Store in unique unto itself.

For instance, the one I landed in is much slower than the last one... and frankly, that was a pretty awesome Christmas present in itself. But this store isn't exactly unfamiliar to me as I started there in 2005, went back there in 2011 for a short time and now have returned there for a third (and triumphant - my word and no one else's) time! It's at the north end of the subdivision I grew up in and where my Mom still lives. So I am like The Ghost of Store 2055. My spirit continues to return and haunt it. Those poor bastards.

Trishan meant to order 48 six-packs of Lagunitas IPA
when it became available on our inventory. Forty-eight
six-packs is one row of 12 cases. What he accidentally did
was order 288 six-packs. Frankly, when it landed on my
first day of work, I thought it was the best welcome ever!

But since I was there relatively recently, there's a core staff still working there when I last was. That includes the senior full-timer, Trishan, who basically runs the joint for our manager, Jeff. You see, Jeff is a multi-location manager, overseeing five different stores so he pops in weekly to do paperwork, prop up spirits and make sure his ships are sailing smoothly. With Trishan at the helm, he has less-than-zero worries. And Josh came to the store back in 2010 or so when he left the Fort Erie Beer Store to become a student at nearby Sheridan College.

And then there's Jonny, our big lovable goofball, who happens to be the younger brother of my last coworker, Jay-Dawg. Now Jonny and I go back almost as far as Jay-Dawg and me. And Jonny happens to be this blog's Number One Cheerleader from its inception in June 2013. "You wanna know what's great about your blog?" Johnny told me with no small amount of enthusiasm a couple of weeks back. "I sit down on the john in the morning and it's the perfect length. When I finish the blog, I'm also done on the toilet." I wish I could tell you that was the strangest thing he said to me that week. But it probably wasn't. That boy cracks me up.

My Secret Santa stash from Jonny. Lessee, a
Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA, a
Sawdust City Lone Pine IPA, a Sextant Why
So Sirius? Pale Ale, a Nickel Brook Naughty
Neighbour Pale Ale, a Stone Go To IPA and
a Muskoka Twice As Mad Tom Double IPA.
Geez, you'd think this guy knows me well?

But when Josh heard I was coming to the store, he texted me to ask if I wanted to be part of their Secret Santa. "Absolutely," I texted back and in the end, Josh very wisely paired me with Jonny. Now I would say Jonny is a little bit ahead of where his brother Jay was in terms of craft love lovin' when Jay and I reconnected at the Beer Store a couple of years back. But in the space of less than a year, Jay went from drinking macro... to pales ales... to IPAs... to Imperial IPAs and finally, sours. His tastes advanced that quickly. These days, if you hand Jay a macro, he'd graciously say thank you and wait until you turned around before he puts it back in the fridge. So by simple association with his brother and the fact that their condos in Burlington are just one floor apart, Jonny has started drinking and loving craft. Mostly because that's what Jay always has in the fridge and historically, little brothers love to mooch free beer. (Mine did.)

Since the Secret Santa limit was $20, I simply popped into the LCBO and grabbed him six different crafties, ranging from a french vanilla porter to IPAs. Turns out Jonny was also my Secret Santa so I got all pale ales and IPAs. That worked out well. In fact, he was pumped to hear I had never had (or heard of) a Sextant Craft Brewing Why So Sirious? Pale Ale. "Yes!" he exclaimed, "I got you one you've never had! You know how hard that is?" He makes a valid point. For the record, a sextant is a much fancier compass that ships used in the old days to chart distances based on their relative point from, say, a known star to the horizon. Those old sea captains weren't all wooden legs, hooks for hands and "Arrrr, Billy."

Wang Chung's Dance Hall Days was in poor Derrick's
head but he didn't know what the song was called. So he
came to me because well, I'm old and remember the 80s.

So for the past couple of weeks, I've been getting to know the other, newer part-timers and they seem like a great group of young 'uns. Anna excitedly told me all the details of her five-year-old son's Holiday Pageant for his Kindergarten class. Poor Nicole got a taste of me bringing back my empties. I wait until my trunk is full and then wheel them in. Usually nine full cases of six-packs or flats of cans and 20-plus scattered bombers. I told her with a straight face that it was a week's worth of beer so she's quite worried about me already. And then there's Matty, the son of one of Oakville's most senior full-timers. We were joking around one day when he suddenly stopped and said with a huge grin, "That's NOT cool, Donny!" I would hear that multiple times when I was in the back and he was near the mic at the cash.

But it was Derrick who presented me with my earliest challenge.

I recently grabbed some Beau's Lug Tread
Lagered Ale. I hadn't had one in a couple
of years and forgot how good this beer is...

You see, he had a song he didn't know stuck in his head from one of his Grand Theft Auto games. "You'll know this song, Donny. It's from the 80s." Well, there's no denying he certainly came to the right guy. "Okay," he said, "It goes 'Dum dum de dum, da, de da'." Dude, really? I'm gonna need a little more than that, like even one lyric would help. Two days later, he thought of one. "Take your baby by the hand." So I told him to get his phone and google Wang Chung's Dance Hall Days. The minute he You-Tubed it, his eyes lit up. "That's it!" he shouted. "That's the song!" Turns out this had been nagging at him for quite some time and even his Mom was stymied. Apparently, she couldn't get it from "Dum dum de dum, da de da" either. In her defence, Wang Chung themselves couldn't have deciphered that clue and would probably have asked, "Is that The Thompson Twins?" And just like Matty before him, whenever I was in the back, Derrick would blare Dance Hall Days over the mic. I'm starting to hate that song all over again. Mostly because I start singing along.

So while all is going exceptionally well with my brand new brew crew, it's time we talked about beer. And I want to start today with an oldie but goodie - Beau's All Natural Lug Tread Lagered Ale.

Okay, an excellent start for the budding Sextant
Craft Brewing team. Their Why So Sirius? Pale
Ale would make an excellent crossover beer for
those now switching from macros to craft beers...

Now if you have ever had an Ontario Kolsch, there is a 99.9% chance that Lug Tread was your first. Why? Because it's everybody's first Kolsch! That's just that big! Top fermented like an ale, cold-aged like a lager, the Kolsch, a centuries-old German tradition, is one of the cleanest craft beer styles. Lug Tread gives you a lager's grassiness on the nose with the bready malts on the tongue like an ale. Kolsches, like pale ales, are considered the best cross-over styles from macro to craft beers. But I have a dilemma. You see since I started this back in June 2013, I have always had a year's end Best Of blog. This year, I'll have two (maybe three) separate columns simply because of a large expansion of styles and categories included. And this is the first year I've included Kolsches. In fact, two of them since Jay and I disagreed on which was best so I'm including both. The problem is that our picks were both released in 2016 and that leaves out Lug Tread, the grand-daddy of all Kolsches. So to acknowledge that, the category will be called the Beau's Lug Tread Honourary Best Ontario Kolsch so the big boy finally gets it due recognition as the one that started it all for us. It's always been one of this province's best beers.

Okay, I always loved a good red ale so what happens when Cowbell (Blyth,
Ontario) puts out a West Coast Red Ale and Oskar Blues Brewing (Lyons,
Colorado) puts out an Imperial Red IPA? It's a whole lot of dark hop pop!
And why is Spider-Man in there? "Because I'm mostly dressed in red!"

Okay, let's look at that Sextant Craft Brewing beer Jonny got me as my Santa. Now Sextant is a new brewery, created by husband and wife team, Dave Wingfelder and Cindy Eveline, back in February and the Why So Sirius? was their inaugural beer. While presently contract-brewing, the pair is looking to open their own brewery perhaps as early as next year. At 4.8% and 33 IBUs (international bitterness units), the Sirius has some nice light citrus on the nose and a light touch of tropical fruit on the tongue. Great little beer, great start and I wish this was around when I was introducing Jay to pale ales. Also, I really like that can's design - very cool looking with its space theme.

For starters, look at the head on this bad boy and yes, I poured
it properly in a clean glass. Aside from being an exceptionally
good session IPA, the lacing on this beer is the best I've seen.

Okay, next up, I pitted one red ale against another - a Canadian versus an American - because I have much love for red ales. In the Canuck corner was Cowbell Brewing's (Blyth, Ontario) Doc Perdue's Bobcat West Coast Red Ale against Oskar Blues Brewing (Lyons, Colorado) G'Knight Imperial Red IPA. I assumed the Imperial IPA would take this but hey, life throws you curves sometimes. In the end, I actually preferred the Doc Perdue's Bobcat (shown in the glass above). At 5.5% and around 40-45 IBUs, it gave you both the caramel of a red and the citrus of a pale ale on the nose with a deep, rich, hoppy finish on the tongue. To be honest, I was a little surprised the G'Knight was an Imperial because even at 8.7% and 60 IBUs, I found the hops far too muted, leaving this tasting more like a strong red ale. It was still very good, mind you, just not what I was expecting. Lots of caramel on the nose, dark fruits (plums, prunes) on the tongue, this was a great red ale, if not an Imperial IPA. No matter, it was good and their regular IPA fared far better with me so I'll look at it soon.

In three words: Ho. Lee. Shit! My favourite brewery is
finally coming to the Beer Store. I honestly didn't see I'd
see the day when I could buy Nickel Brook's awesome
beers at my work but finally some good news from 2016!

Another beer I got that I've never had from Jonny's Santa Gift Bag was Stone Brewing's (Escondido, California) Go To IPA, their session IPA, which is kinda funny because I put the same beer in his gift bag. Bit of a fluke. His assessment since he drank his first? "That Stone beer was great!" Indeed, it was exactly that but let me elaborate a little more. It's a sensible 4.8% with an insanely high 68 IBUs, meaning it's one of the hoppiest session ales I've ever had. There is no way you'd peg this as a sessioner. Citrus and tropical fruit on the nose with pine, pine and more pine on the tongue. Insanely tasty. It's like Stone realized there were three NHL hockey teams in California and figured, "Holy crap, we better put out a session IPA so hockey fans can watch the entire game!" Once again, Stone can brew no wrong.

Well, as I told you, the rest of the week will be filled with Best of 2016 lists because that's the cliche all beer writers follow at year end but hey, it's good to honour the best, I think. Just one man's opinion on beers but I have had some beauties this year. So guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until, well, a day or two from now, I remain, as always...